Archive for May, 2014

In the U.S. the #1 health problem isn’t cancer, heart disease or even obesity. It’s addiction. One in 12 adults have an alcohol problem and the numbers are higher for illegal drug use and prescription pill abuse. Chances are you or someone you know struggles with an addiction of some kind.

Thanks to AA and other substance abuse recovery programs, more Americans are getting sober every day. For someone who has beat an addiction, every day of sobriety is something to celebrate. Reaching sobriety milestones – 30 days sober, 6 months, 1 year and beyond are major accomplishments for recovering alcoholics or drug addicts. Programs refer to these milestones as anniversaries or birthdays.

Is your sister celebrating her 1-year sober birthday? Maybe your husband has been clean for 10 years. Your son might have come out of rehab a new man who you’re so proud of him for making the commitment to clean and sober living.

Recovery gifts are a wonderful way to show your support for your friends and family members who struggle with addiction.

Get them something besides a chip or a coin to express how important their sobriety is to you. Some gift ideas include:

♦ Engrave a family bookmark to thank your husband or wife for choosing family over addiction.

♦ Personalize a Big Book wooden memory box and fill it with notes of all the good times you’ve enjoyed together since your mom or dad has gotten clean.

Gifts include Kyle’s exclusive etched metal designs that are symbolic of new beginnings and recovered families, such as the sunset, tree of life, cross, Big Book and more. Every item is handcrafted and customized with your color choices and many gifts can also be engraved. Personalize a sobriety night light, keychain, locket, pill box, ornament, jewelry box or other meaning gift for someone you love. Click Shop Recovery Gifts for Kyle’s exclusive selection of sobriety themed products.

Meaningful Sobriety Quotes

“AA is not for people who need it, its for people who want it.”

“If you’re not moving away from a drink you’re moving closer to it.”

“Sobriety is a journey; not a destination.”

“Call your sponsor before, not after, you take the first drink”

“We can be positive that our drinking was negative”

“If I think, I won’t drink. If I drink, I can’t think.”

“Even my worst day in sobriety is better than my best day drunk.”

“When all else fails, the directions are in the Big Book.”

“Why recovery never ends: the disease is alcoholISM, not alcoholWASM!”

“A coincidence is a miracle in which God chooses to remain anonymous.”

“Having a resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die.”

“An alcoholic without a sponsor is like leaving Dracula in charge of the blood bank.”

“The first thing in the human personality that dissolves in alcohol is dignity.”

“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” -Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald

“Alcoholism isn’t a spectator sport. Eventually the whole family gets to play.” -Joyce Rebeta-Burditt

“If drinking is interfering with your work, you’re probably a heavy drinker. If work is interfering with your drinking, you’re probably an alcoholic.”

Voluntary water usage cut-backs have become mandatory here in the Bay Area. We’ve been told to collect the shower water that spills out as we wait for it to get hot in the morning and find a use for it such as watering our plants. We’re supposed to turn off the water while we brush our teeth and scrape our dinner plate scrappings into the trash instead of rinsing them down the sink. Showering used to be a nice way to relax underneath the flow of the hot water but is now a game of “How Fast Can I Get This Done?” and building guilt over how much water is spilling down the drain. I can’t even think about stepping onto my driveway with soap, hose and car wash bucket.

As much as I hate the rain, living through the drought is worse. Obviously it effects so much more than my little world of quick showers and a dirty car. But in my little world, I sometimes forget about the drought. My husband does too, and I remind him when I think his hand washing session is running a tad long. Don’t worry, he has plenty of opportunities to remind me too 😉

What better way to keep water conservation at the front of your mind than with a little reminder? Buy a water drop bookmark, badge reel or money clip to help you and those around you stay focused on doing our parts to get us through this drought. Kyle has several gifts featuring her water droplet design – shop water conservation gifts to customize yours.

My mom had some strange things in her purse. I think most moms do. And many can relate over the odd items swimming around in their handbags. A child’s sock. A toy car. A sticky, leftover snack your toddler didn’t finish…a week ago. Usual mom stuff.

My mom was different though. There were odd items that were intentionally there so that she’d have them if the situation arose in which she may need – or shall I say, want – them. One of those items was a little bottle of cherry grenadine. My mom loved diet cherry coke. But not the kind sold by the Coca-Cola company, the kind you make by adding just the right amount of grenadine to your soda. A meal at a restaurant just wouldn’t be the same if she had to…gasp!…drink plain diet Coke. So, there in her purse sat a little bottle waiting to transform her drink if we stopped to grab a bite while we were out. And we always stopped to grab a bite while we were out.

For some people, there are certain small pleasures in life that aren’t worth missing. Perhaps it takes a certain sweetener to make your sweet tea just right. Or maybe you’re traveling and can’t imagine a morning without your specific brand of black or green tea. You might be trying to watch your weight and want to be sure you have your artificial sweetener with you next time you dine out.

For carrying just a few sugar packets in a nice, compact case, you’ll want to order her slim sugar packet holder (shown below). It comes in gold or silver and you can choose from over 500 of Kyle’s cute designs. You can also add your favorite iridescent accent color and customize it with an engraving. This case comes in a thin or deep version. About 3 packets fit in the thin one and 5 fit into the deep case.

To carry a larger capacity of sugar packets or to travel with your tea bags, customize a travel tea bag case. These metal boxes offer a sturdy way to protect your tea and sugar packets on the go. Get one with Kyle’s decorative tea pot or coffee cup design (shown below), or choose from hundreds of other creative etchings.

Whatever small items you’re looking to carry in your purse, keep them protected and easily accessible with a stylish metal case that’s custom made just for you. This may not have worked for my mom’s grenadine, but I can’t go away overnight without my bags of Lipton cold-brew tea, so this case is perfect for me.

Shop unique gifts at Kyle Design, where every gift is handcrafted in the design and color of your choice.

Nurses rock, don’t they?

I’m absolutely loving this nurse’s quote by Rawsi Williams. I know so many hard-working nurses so I love that there’s a whole week that celebrates the men and women who have worked so hard to be where they’re at today. Every year I make an effort to make my favorite nurses feel special on Nurse’s Day, which is May 6th. I love to send my sister-in-law an engraved RN keychain or vintage nurse hat badge reel. My cousin adores the personalized nursing swag I send her way too.

The truth is, everyone loves to feel special. Nurses spend somuch of their day caring for other people’s needs and so little time caring for their own.

It doesn’t take much effort to honor a nurse, but it will absolutely make their day. Shop unique nurse gifts at Kyle Design to customize an affordable gift for a special nurse in your life. They say it’s better to give than to receive – experience the feel-good that comes from making someone else feel special. It’ll probably outlast Nurse’s Day for you. But for the nurse you honor, that feel-good won’t wear off for at least a week.